French painter (b. 1616/17, Paris, d. 1655, Paris).
French painter and draughtsman. He was one of the most important painters of historical, mythological and religious pictures in 17th-century France and one of the founders of French classicism. He was long considered the 'French Raphael' and the equal of Nicolas Poussin and Charles Le Brun. His reputation reached its zenith in the first half of the 19th century, but since then it has been in decline, largely as a result of the simplified and saccharine image of the man and his art created by Romantic writers and painters. Nevertheless, more recent recognition of the complexity of his art has resulted in a new interest in him and in his place in the evolution of French painting in the 17th century. Despite the almost total absence of signed and dated works, the chronology of Le Sueur's oeuvre can be established with the aid of a few surviving contracts, Related Paintings of LE SUEUR, Eustache :. | The Muses: Melpomene, Erato and Polymnia sf | The Muses: Clio, Euterpe and Thalia | The Muses: Clio, Euterpe and Thalia dh | A Gathering of Friends af | St Bruno Examining a Drawing of the Baths of Diocletian Location of the Future Charterhouse of Rome (mk05) | Related Artists:
Lorenzo LottoItalian
1480-1556
Lorenzo Lotto Galleries
In this last period of his life, Lorenzo Lotto would frequently move from town to town, searching for patrons and commissions. In 1532 he went to Treviso. Next he spent about seven years in the Marches (Ancona, Macerata en Jesi), returning to Venice in 1540. He moved again to Treviso in 1542 and back to Venice in 1545. Finally he went back to Ancona in 1549.
This was a productive period in his life, during which he painted several altarpieces and portraits :
Santa Lucia before the Judge, 1532, Jesi, Pinacoteca comunale
The Sleeping Child Jesus with the Madonna, St. Joseph and St. Catherine of Alexandria, 1533, Bergamo, Accademia Carrara
Portrait of a Lady as Lucretia, 1533, National Gallery, London.
Holy Family with SS Jerome, Anna and Joachim, 1534, Firenze, Uffizi
Holy Family, ca 1537, Paris, Louvre
Portrait of a Young Man, Firenze, Uffizi
Crucifixion, Monte San Giusto, Church of S Maria in Telusiano
Rosary Madonna, 1539, Cingoli, Church of San Nicolo
Portrait of a Man, 1541, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada
Bust of a Bearded Man, 1541, ascribed, San Francisco, Fine Arts Museum
The Alms of Saint Anthony, 1542, Venezia, church SS Giovanni e Paolo
Madonna and four Saints, 1546, Venezia, Church of San Giacomo dell??Orio
Portrait of fra?? Gregorio Belo da Vicenza, 1548,New York, Metropolitan Museum
Assumption, 1550, Ancona, church San Francesco alle Scale
The Crossbowman, 1551, Rome, Pinacoteca Capitolina
Portrait of an Old man, ascribed, ca 1552, Saint Petersburg, Ermitage
Presentation in the Temple, 1555, Loreto, Palazzo Apostolico
A Venetian woman in the guise of Lucretia (1533).At the end of his life it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to earn a living. Furthermore, in 1550 one of his works had an unsuccessful auction in Ancona. As recorded in his personal account book, this deeply disillusioned him. As he had always been a deeply religious man, he entered in 1552 the Holy Sanctuary at Loreto, becoming a lay brother. During that time he decorated the basilica of S Maria and painted a Presentation in the Temple for the Palazzo Apostolico in Loreto. He died in 1556 and was buried, at his request, in a Dominican habit.
Giorgio Vasari included Lotto's biography in the third volume of his book Vite. Lorenzo Lotto himself left many letters and a detailed notebook (Libro di spese diverse, 1538-1556), giving a certain insight in his life and work. Among the many painters he influenced are likely Giovanni Busi
Albert Anker1831-1910
Swiss Albert Anker Galleries
During his studies, Anker produced a series of works with historical and biblical themes, including paintings of Luther and Calvin. Soon after returning to Ins, though, he turned to what would become his signature theme: the everyday life of people in rural communities. His paintings depict his fellow citizens in an unpretentious and plain manner, without idealising country life, but also without the critical examination of social conditions that can be found in the works of contemporaries such as Daumier, Courbet or Millet. Although Anker did paint occasional scenes with a social significance, such as visits by usurers or charlatans to the village, his affirmative and idealistic Christian world-view did not include an inclination to issue any sort of overt challenge.
Also prominent in Anker's work are the more than 30 still lifes he created. They depict both rural and urban table settings in the tradition of Chardin, their realist solidity reflecting Anker's vision of a harmonic and stable world order. In addition, Anker created hundreds of commissioned watercolours and drawings, mostly portraits and illustrations, including for an edition of Jeremias Gotthelf's collected works. To provide for a steady income, Anker also decorated more than 500 faience plates for the Alsatian producer Theodore Deck.
Anker was quick to reach his artistic objectives and never strayed from his chosen path. His works, though, exude a sense of conciliation and understanding as well as a calm trust in Swiss democracy; they are executed with great skill, providing brilliance to everyday scenes through subtle choices in colouring and lighting. Their parochial motives belie the open-mindedness towards contemporary European art and events that Anker's correspondence reflects.
Felicien RopsBelgian Symbolist Engraver, 1833-1898
was a Belgian artist, and printmaker in etching and aquatint. Rops was born in Namur in 1833, and was educated at the University of Brussels. Rops's forte was drawing more than painting in oils; he first won fame as a caricaturist. He met Charles Baudelaire towards the end of Baudelaire's life in 1864, and Baudelaire left an impression upon him that lasted until the end of his days. Rops created the frontispiece for Baudelaire's Les Épaves, a selection of poems from Les Fleurs du mal that had been censored in France, and which therefore were published in Belgium. Rops's association with Baudelaire and with the art he represented won his work the admiration of many other writers, including Theophile Gautier, Alfred de Musset, St phane Mallarm, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, and Josephin Peladan. He was closely associated with the literary movement of Symbolism and Decadence. Like the works of the authors whose poetry he illustrated, his work tends to mingle sex, death, and Satanic images.